SINGAPORE  Preparing for his first official trip to China, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sought to dampen hopes Monday that he might win early Chinese agreement on revaluing its currency.

"I am not looking for immediate solutions or quick fixes. ... I am looking to set a tone and an expectation of working through issues and making progress," Paulson told reporters.

Paulson's reputation for China savvy, based on extensive work with Chinese leaders when he was head of Goldman Sachs, has raised congressional hopes that he might succeed where others have failed. But on the eve of a four-day China visit, he counseled "patience."

In recent years, the value of China's currency, the yuan, has fueled growing congressional irritation with Chinese trade practices. With the U.S. running an escalating annual trade deficit with China of more than $200 billion, U.S. manufacturers complain that China keeps the yuan's value artificially low as an effective export subsidy.

The Chinese government plans to gradually move to a freely trading currency but says it first needs to complete financial reforms.

In July 2005, China raised the yuan's value by 2% and has allowed a further rise of less than 2% since then. Chinese officials fear that a premature move to a floating currency could torpedo job growth in export-oriented factories, raising the prospect of social instability.

Paulson, who attended the annual meetings here of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, spoke hours before IMF member countries approved a two-step reform. China, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico won an immediate increase in their share of internal IMF votes. A further realignment potentially affecting most of the fund's 184 members is to be worked out over two years.